I signed up for a drag strip rental that took place this past Sunday (Jan. 27, 2013), hoping for some cooler weather. The cooler weather didn't really happen, but I still had a good time. Even managed to get a new personal best.

Car Details: 2009 335i Coupe, Automatic transmission.Mods: JB4 (8/21/2012 firmware), BMS DCI, and about a 40% E85 mixed with 93 octane.
The car weighed in at 3,532 lbs without me, and 3,732 lbs with me in it. I had a 1/4 tank of gas in the car.
All runs were started in 2nd gear with a brake boost.
I got 21 runs in over the course of the day, letting the car cool for a while in between sets of hot laps. Heat soak was a big issue for me since I had over an hour drive to get to the track and am running the stock intercooler. Most runs were in the 12.4 - 12.6 range, with trap speeds between 106 and 111. The hot air was definitely slowing me down, though. Below are the three best runs of the day for me.

First run of the day ended up being the best. 12.173 @ 109.49 mph. Here's the slip:

Although the slip says it was about a 2000 RPM start, it was probably closer to 2500 as I wasn't paying too much attention to it initially. The DA for this run was about 905 according to the Dragtimes calculator.

The two next best runs were the following:

12.337 @ 109.34 mph

and:

12.299 @ 111.55 mph

The DA on the 12.337 run was around 958 and the DA for the 12.299 run was around 1083.

Overall, the car did pretty well. There were a couple runs that seemed like they were going to go even better, but the car was getting hot and the IAT was getting up around 180 on the top end of the track. Next mod is definitely going to be an aftermarket intercooler.

Last edited by GetSomeE92; 01-30-2013 at 12:39 AM.
Reason: To add weight info.

An intercooler will be my next mod. It's too hot down here and it is killing my top end at the track.

Yeah get that fmic, 180 degree iat are super hot. Throw in a new fmic and 3" dp's and your looking at 11's. Nice job on your runs with your limited mods, I think the e85 helped a little to combat those high iat's.

Yeah get that fmic, 180 degree iat are super hot. Throw in a new fmic and 3" dp's and your looking at 11's. Nice job on your runs with your limited mods, I think the e85 helped a little to combat those high iat's.

I don't know if the E85 helped to combat the high temps, if at all, but I still had a lot of fun.

I'm going to get a FMIC first and then take it back to the track to see how much it helps.

I don't know if the E85 helped to combat the high temps, if at all, but I still had a lot of fun.

I'm going to get a FMIC first and then take it back to the track to see how much it helps.

Its going to help alot. I'm not saying it combated the high temps directly, but seeing that your iat's got really high the ecu will start pulling alot of timing and the e85 may help out there because its more resistent to knock. good luck next time at the track.

Its going to help alot. I'm not saying it combated the high temps directly, but seeing that your iat's got really high the ecu will start pulling alot of timing and the e85 may help out there because its more resistent to knock. good luck next time at the track.

Ah. I hear what you're saying. That very well could have been the case. Next time I go to the track I should have a laptop so I will be able to take some logs. I'll have an intercooler on the car by then as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wes335XI

Impressive and congrats. I run 12.5 @ 111mph, amazing how little it takes to get the rwd going vs the AWD.

Meth would be a better option I think. Would keep temps down, but the inter cooler and down pipes helps too.

With the XI you should be able to 60' like a beast though, right?

As for meth, I want to see what I can get out of the car with bolt ons only, especially since I have E85 readily available. Also, I don't really know if I want to mess with meth injection. There always seems to be some kind of problem with the systems and that would be just one more thing to worry about and trouble shoot.

Knock has nothing to do with the timing reductions that are occuring due to CATs. Even if you timing corrections are zero across the board but your CATs are north of ~105F then you are losing some serious timing, all the octane/cylinder cooling in the world isn't going to help. I think that would help to explain the great ETs but the lowish trap speeds you were seeing. Get the CATs down and you've got an 11 second car

__________________

"I'm not surprised you get along well with all the other neighbours. If you put fifty children with Down's syndrome in a room there is going to be a lot of hugging." David Thorne

I had an easier time hitting a 1.60 60' in my STi than with the 400WHP AWD BMW, because of the automatic. If I could get my 60's down I could get a low 12, but the car weighs 4,050 pounds without me in it. That's a lot of mass to get moving down the track lol.

Meth is easy with the BMW and with the right software. The JB4 does everything for you and the fail safe is built in. It's a beautiful system. So much easier than the stuff I had to deal with my old STi. The main point of the 50/50 meth is for cooling purposes to pull more timing. In your case considering how hot it is I think it would be beneficial. It also cleans your motor.

Knock has nothing to do with the timing reductions that are occuring due to CATs. Even if you timing corrections are zero across the board but your CATs are north of ~105F then you are losing some serious timing, all the octane/cylinder cooling in the world isn't going to help. I think that would help to explain the great ETs but the lowish trap speeds you were seeing. Get the CATs down and you've got an 11 second car

Good point. With how hot the air was entering the motor, there was no way it wasn't slowing me down. Boost was dropping off substantially according to the in-dash boost gauge. No doubt that timing was suffering as well.

I had an easier time hitting a 1.60 60' in my STi than with the 400WHP AWD BMW, because of the automatic. If I could get my 60's down I could get a low 12, but the car weighs 4,050 pounds without me in it. That's a lot of mass to get moving down the track lol.

Meth is easy with the BMW and with the right software. The JB4 does everything for you and the fail safe is built in. It's a beautiful system. So much easier than the stuff I had to deal with my old STi. The main point of the 50/50 meth is for cooling purposes to pull more timing. In your case considering how hot it is I think it would be beneficial. It also cleans your motor.

Wow! 4,050 lbs without you in it! Is your car a convertible as well? A buddy of mine went with me with his 2011 335i Vert and he weighed in at 3,955 lbs without him in it (4,166 lbs with him in it).

I may very well end up running meth in the future, but I want to see how the car does with the bolt ons only first. I'm a bit of a power/speed junkie, so meth is definitely not out of the question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellomyBMW

damn. Nice run with just DCI, JB4 and E85 mix!
Very impressive 60' times with cheapo tires too!

+1

Thanks! The tires are pretty crappy. I drive so much that I needed something with a longer treadlife as I was burning through sets too quickly. The down side of that is that they are not as sticky (on the street or on the track).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuraQ

Congrats on the new times....time for an FMIC

I was debating about going on Sunday, so I took advantage of the Friday weather before that Sunday.

Sad I couldnt make it, but I am happy to see a bimmer brother made the best out of it.

Good point. With how hot the air was entering the motor, there was no way it wasn't slowing me down. Boost was dropping off substantially according to the in-dash boost gauge. No doubt that timing was suffering as well.

By the end of the track you were probably giving up 4° or 5° of timing.

__________________

"I'm not surprised you get along well with all the other neighbours. If you put fifty children with Down's syndrome in a room there is going to be a lot of hugging." David Thorne

Knock has nothing to do with the timing reductions that are occuring due to CATs. Even if you timing corrections are zero across the board but your CATs are north of ~105F then you are losing some serious timing, all the octane/cylinder cooling in the world isn't going to help. I think that would help to explain the great ETs but the lowish trap speeds you were seeing. Get the CATs down and you've got an 11 second car

Let me ask you a question, what are CATs? Is that the same as IAT's? Well if it is then your telling me that if your IAT was as high as 180 deg. that the timing corrections had nothing to do with det. or knock? I'm not saying the car was knocking, but the whole idea of the timing corrections is to prevent knock right? An the point I was really trying to make was that the e85 benifited him more then say 93 octane by itself where even more timing would of been pulled.

Let me ask you a question, what are CATs? Is that the same as IAT's? Well if it is then your telling me that if your IAT was as high as 180 deg. that the timing corrections had nothing to do with det. or knock? I'm not saying the car was knocking, but the whole idea of the timing corrections is to prevent knock right? An the point I was really trying to make was that the e85 benifited him more then say 93 octane by itself where even more timing would of been pulled.

CAT(charge air temps) are the same thing as what we usually refer to as IATs. For me it is more accurate to talk about IATs as pre turbo and CATs as post turbo, but that's just me.

You are correct with your line of thinking, however in application it works a little differently. The DME follows timing correction tables that will target lower timing advance the higher the CATs climb. It doesn't matter if you have 100 octane/e85/Q16 or whatever else in the tank the DME will still target less timing, it does this to prevent the CAT induced knock you're talking about because it assumes you have 93 octane. At that point, all the e85 can do is just prevent timing corrections.

That's why getting the BMS back end flash is a good idea, Terry(probably) makes changes to the correction factor tables to reduce the effect they have.

__________________

"I'm not surprised you get along well with all the other neighbours. If you put fifty children with Down's syndrome in a room there is going to be a lot of hugging." David Thorne